Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Wednesday 12/06 A.M. Quickie:Wait, Is T.O. the "Sportsman of the Year?"

I'm in Chicago right now, and – wow – the fans and media here hate Rex Grossman far more than you can understand simply from reading the local papers, etc. Meanwhile...

This is turning into "Sportsman of the Year" week: You've seen SI's pick (Dwyane Wade) and I chimed in with mine yesterday (Vince Young), but here's a very cool spin-off: Jamie Mottram of Mr. Irrelevant (and ringmaster of the excellent AOL Fanhouse blogs) got 50 leading sports bloggers (including me) to vote on their top 10 sports figures of 2006, yielding 226 nominees and a Top 40 list that's way more fun than anything from SI or any other mainstream-media outlet:

T.O. was Number 1, which – unlike other year-end lists – reflected reality: T.O. had to be the most blogged-about figure in sports of the year. Does that mean he's a good guy? Far from it. It more accurately reflects his status as the sports world's leading douchebag. But still, that should count for something, and it raises the ultimately interesting question about whether "Sportsman" of the year necessarily has to be about a hero, rather than the athlete/coach/etc who had the most impact on the sports year. Check out the link here.

MLB Hot Stove: Red Sox sign JD Drew to 5Y/$70M deal. $14 million a year is a steep price to learn the valuable baseball lesson about "regressing to the mean." And you'd THINK that that would clear the way for Boston to trade Manny. But oh no: The latest is that he's staying in Boston. (Healthy)Drew-Ortiz-Manny is a hell of a threesome: Ménage a ass-kicking. Meanwhile, who else thinks Greg Maddux will look a little strange in a Padres uniform? Guess he liked the SoCal weather.

Barry Zito update: Did the Rangers offer him a 6Y/$100M deal? You'd think that Tom Hicks would have learned his lesson about overpaying after the A-Rod debacle. Does this mean the Yankees will be bailing the Rangers out with a 50-cents-on-the-dollar trade in a few seasons?

Ripken speaks out on McGwire: Actually, he didn't want to talk about McGwire. Didn't want to talk about... hmm, could we say "the past?" Where have we heard that before?

NFL: The Saints got some bad news in an otherwise dream season when DT Hollis Thomas was suspended for the rest of the season for violating the league's steroid policy. Expect this to be swept under the rug much like every other NFL steroid violation.

NBA: It's rare to see David Stern make a misstep, let alone admit one, but he did about the new ball, saying he should have consulted with the players before installing it. Oh, NOW he says it...

Meanwhile, the league said no to the group that wants to buy the Grizzlies led by ex-Dukie Brian Davis because the group wasn't transparent enough about their financing. Sounds reasonable enough to me.

Oh, were there actual NBA games last night to talk about? How about Nash's 20 assists? Don't go using that as a springboard to argue he deserves a third straight MVP. Let's hope that era is behind us.

CFB Coaching Carousel: Wake's Jim Grobe said he is staying at Wake. Doesn't anyone want the Alabama job? Apparently, WVA's Rich Rodriguez might. He reportedly had "informal" discussions with the school. We know what that means: Way closer to a deal than anyone knows. And, given the lack of love for Bama by potential coaches, Rich Rod knows he's leading a seller's market.

College Hoops: What have we learned so far about the young season? Parity rules. Think Gonzaga is all that? Whap: They lose to WashingtonState. Think Texas A/M is this year's breakthrough team? Bam: They lose to last year's breakthrough team, LSU, the same team they lost to in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. You might as well have flipped a coin to pick who was going to win the 22 Okla St-21 Syracuse game (OkieState won... in Syracuse's backyard of NYC.)

You have to take anything Ben Johnson says with a grain of salt, but he insists that his problems at the '88 Olympics were the result of a conspiracy led by rival Carl Lewis. Track and field is so sketchy -- particularly back then, before most people really knew about steroids -- that I'd argue that anything is possible.

And, finally, if you live in NYC and are looking for fun tonight, I highly recommend heading to Happy Ending (302 Broome) for the latest installment of the Varsity Letters Reading Series. This month's event features Jack McCallum from Sports Illustrated, Josh Prager of "The Echoing Green" and Brad Snyder, who wrote an interesting book about Curt Flood. I should mention that the series is under new management; I have passed host and management duties along to Carl Bialik of the Wall Street Journal's excellent "Daily Fix" and Gelf Magazine. Should be a great event – and it's FREE – so head on over there (8 p.m. start time) to check it out. Here's a link.

Take heart, sheldiz; your fave sportsman at least made others receiving votes. Just behind Rafeal Nadal. I have to admit, I'm a pretty big sports fan, but there were quite a few names on that others list I've never heard of...

I love the TO pick. Really, doesn't he just encapsulate everything about sports in America? He writes a kid's book, he's a constant whiner, he wanted to keep a whiny kicker on the team but constantly rags on his QBs, he enjoys drawing attention to himself when he's injured and hates it when he loses, he's the most talented receiver ever or the one most likely to drop the ball. And he never dogs it on the field, but never shows you commitment beyond running his routes. He holds out for more money and never gets it, then goes to the Yankees of football.

Here's the thing: you can explain 2006 sports year without Dwyane Wade, because you still have Shaq, Kobe, AI, LeBron, Melo and Dirk.

Try explaining 2006 without TO. I don't want to reward this type of behavior, but he's one of the greats in our era. Thank God he's one of a kind.

Not sure if anyone caught it, but ESPN was showing fan shots during the WV/Rutgers game last weekend, and directly in the front row, center of their big bright HD picture, there was a guy wearing a dark blue hoodie with that exact phrase on it... "West FUCKIN' Virginia"

Wonder how much the FCC fined tWWL? Especialy considering the kid was on-air for a solid five to ten seconds - the camerman must not have been using the viewfinder very well... Or maybe he was drunk.

Hollis' steroid suspension was as a result of asthma medication. Not exactly Shawn Merriman stuff. This only further demonstrates that the NFL's steroid "policy" is an even bigger joke than I thought it was.

Pffft. JD Drew. The only one that matters in that trio is still Manny Ramirez. As he goes, so does the team.

Is it me or are the 'stud' pitchers of a few years ago all name and no result? Prior, Wood, Zito, etc.

McGwire is a juicebag.

The Hollins suspension is iffy to me. If it was asthma medicine, and the player was backed up by doctors, how can he be suspended? Asthma isn't something one can just develop one year so there has to be a lengthy history that the NFL could look at...instead of suspending the player. Sets a bad precedent, imo.

Noone wants the 'Bama job. Reason #135 why the Bama-Auburn rivalry is nowhere near the scope of OSU-Michigan. It's such a crummy place that noone wants to toil in mediocrity there.

College Basketball parity? Nah. The teams losing are teams often ranked highly due to name. Zags? Without Morrison?? Please.

I'm not sure what your definition of sportsman is. When I hear the word Sportsman one of the last people I think of is Vince Young. This is the guy who sat and pouted on camera during the Heisman ceremony in which Bush won. This is also the same guy who after winning the national championship as a team the first thing he did was yell "HEISMAN WHAT!" in the camera.

Hot Stove:Red Sox: It looks like the Red Sox are trying to really turn up the heat. Having already signed Hideki Ohajima and now signing JD Drew and the preliminary deal with Julio Lugo (4 years, 36 mil), and the rumors are still raging that they will get Roger Clemens to close for them (Gagne?) and no one knows how much that will cost, plus we still don't know how much Daisuke Matsuzaka will sign for.

Other Teams: Look at some of these deals...Maddux: 1 year, 10 mil (Padres)Meche: 4 years, 40 mil (Royals)Lilly: 4 years, 40 mil (Cubs)Padilla: 3 years, 35 mil (Rangers)If these guys are 10 mil a year pitchers, I'd argue that pretty much anyone could be. So maybe the Red Sox aren't overspending?

NBA:Nash's 20 assists was great but not as great as this line by Elton Brand: 13-18 FG, 7-8 FT, 17 REB, 33 PTS or this one by Rashard Lewis: 10-16 FG, 3-6 3PT, 6-6 FT, 8 REB, 4 BLK, 29 PTS

Cal Ripken Jr. did exactly what he should have done. He can't trash McGwire cause he's Cal, and he never says anything bad about anybody, and he can't say put McGwire in because then it might be seen as associating with a guilty party.

Ben Johnson also has said previously that there was a guy in the room when he took his test and that perhaps it was the same guy that was in the bar the night before with him.I gotta agree with Dan here: It's track and field, you never know. Theres that rumor about the Rome World Games a couple of years before where they came up with a new steriods test and 43 of the top 44 runners tested positive so they threw the test out and told them to get clean for the Olympics.

Under Nate Dip's reasoning, Jordan also would never be Sportsman of the year because he wasn't happy when he lost in award voting.

For God's sake, Vince Young was 21/22 years old. Acting like a 21/22 year old doesn't mean you're a bad sport. THe Heisman What yell was justified considering the fact that he single handidly destroyed the Trojan defense.

Nate, do you sit on your porch in your rocking chair and yell at kids as they run across your lawn after school lets out for not being well behaved?

Brave sir robin – agreed. 21 year olds act like 21 year olds. His actions were unfortunate, but what are you going to do? No, Vince Young didn’t win Sportsman of the Year because he 1) wasn’t the best player in college football last year (I know, I know, he had a monster game against USC – if Bush doesn’t fumble that ball on the lateral, or if Pete Carroll had used Bush on the 4th and 1, USC wins and VY is irrelevant to this discussion) and 2) he hadn’t asserted himself enough in the NFL yet, though that appears to be occurring before our eyes. Young was probably the 3rd choice for SI, behind the Saints and Wade. All good choices, but let’s not suppose Vince didn’t get it because he whined about the Heisman.

Has anyone who is suspicious of Hollis Thomas ever actually seen him? Trust me if he's taking steroids to bulk up, he definitely needs a refund.

His statement/explanation makes total sense; Someone asked why did he failed just now if he always had asthma? People all the time switch medications or just get around to a doctor and just start getting prescribed medication for something they always had or get prescribed something new if your symptoms worsen. Not to mention the NFL testing policy doesn't test everyone every week so it wasn't an all of a sudden thing. Unless Thomas is taking steroids for the belly, I believe his story.

I think that Dan has a point that the Sportsmen of the Year does not necessarily have to be someone who personifies Sportsmanship. Time magazine has picked some real quality men as their Man of the Year (Hitler, Stalin, Khoemani).

I'm sweet at tennis. I hit the ball over the fence about 9/10's. Dumbass across from me keeps yelling me to stop doing that. Hey man, I come to play! I'm not going to hold your hand. Learn how to serve better and maybe I won't hit it so far and long. I had 36 homeruns in a game against this kid last week.

Did we figure out why Dan is in Chi-town? Job interview? Northwestern reunion where he can tell people that he's kind of a big deal? Maybe he just wanted to go to Weiner Circle and cuss out some workers.

Shanoff needs to let us know what bar he is showing up at tonight so I can buy him a few shots. Also, I could remind him of something he wrote in early September of 2005: "The White Sox will not make the playoffs."

Boxing won for the hardest, followed by hockey and then basketball. Football was right up there, baseball was like 9th, and then stuff like car racing and fishing and "poker" were all waaaay further down.

I think Sidney Crosby should get some love in the Sportsman of the year debate - he is heading the youth movement in hockey, which is beginning to get some attendence bumbs and is hopefully coming back - hockey is the hardest sport to play of them all, a mixture of speed endurence strength smarts and overall badassness (just beating each other up and allowing fighting). Really need to petition the NHL to start showing games on NBC/ESPN/ABC again.

If we're going to have the sport/not a sport debate, we can do that. But all I would add about tennis is that Americans just don't care. Again, if Federer had more personality or stirred up some controversy (like the Mac) we might follow him. But because tennis isn't the spectator sport that FB, BB, or MLB is, we just won't follow it unless the individual athlete is a)ridiculously good and b) compelling. Roger is a, but not b. Is tennis hard? F@#$ing A! But it's also pretty tough to box, and we don't care about that sport anymore (no Tyson, Ali, etc).

No disrespect to Mr. Federer - he's dominant and he plays a sport. But we just don't care about his sport.

Charlie Weis should be Sportsman of the Year. That guy is a genius and such a great, oversized coach.

Washington State over Gonzaga? So does that mean Washington State can beat Carolina?? There seems to be a lot of great matchups early on this season and a lot of the "mids" proving that they can beat up on the majors. Looks like it will be an exciting March with a very messy bracket. Can't wait.

Drew to the Sox still makes no sense. Pettitte back to the Yankees makes plenty of sense. Theo is overrated.

Jim Mora left his job a Fox Sports Radio over his Vick comments. This is what he said: "It worries me a little bit because my son is the head coach down there," the elder Mora said. "But he's a great athlete, my son likes him a lot, he's a good kid. But he's not a passer. And you need a passer at quarterback to be successful consistently in the National Football League. And he ain't getting it done in that category." Sounds to me like he hit the nail on the head, and this is much ado about nothing, what do you guys think

I love the idea of Weiss as Sportsman of the year until i think of the cover and its a picture of him, in all his 400 pound glory with his flabby chin and the word sportsman under it and thinking it is the most ironic thing I have ever seen.

I think Jim Mora might have missed something. What does success mean? Super bowls? I don't think so. You wouldn't say that Bill Cowher was the only successful coach in the NFL last year. Is it winning percentage? That sounds better. But doesn't Vick have the highest Winning Percentage of any QB since Vick's NFL debut? That would mean that he is consistantly successful. I'm confused.

I don't think Vick is the reason for all that success. They should consider creating a flexible offense next year in which he and Schaub are on the field at the same time...vick becomes a RB/WR/direct snap QB/runner and Schaub can handle normal passing and directing the offense. Vick is a great talent in that he has the capability to throw and can run as well as most running backs - that doesn't mean he is a good QB.

I guess I was somehow too harsh on TO. I was just comparing his media coverage in proportion to his influence. He is a great player, but his media coverage is way out of whack to that value. The bimbo summit girls have exactly zero influence or contributions to society, so anything other than their phone numbers on a bathroom wall is too much coverage. I am sorry TO, you are no Paris.

Also, this flows in nicely with the ESPN Deportes report that the Dodgers are offering Brad Penny and a couple prospects for Manny Ramirez... I think it's safe to say that if this trade happens, both LA & Boston are tied for having the best off-season to date.

I hate how NFL steroid stories get swept under the rug as much as anyone, but this guy seems to have a legit excuse. He didn't try the "how'd these steroids get in my supplement" route, he takes a prescribed steroid to fight his very serious asthma. He admits to this.

How the NFL lumps this in with the rest of the jacked up jokers with a blanket 4 game suspension is beyond me. When the big guy collapses on the field cause he isn't allowed to take his meds, there'll be a much bigger problem, no?

Carl Lewis had been caught for doping before the 88 Olympics and shouldn't have even been competing in the event in the first place. Yes Ben Johnson is a national discrace in Canada, but he was treated unfairly given that everone else was doping then.

I think I'd have rather taken Trot Nixon at half the price of Drew....and I hated Nixon for the last five years or so. I swear, half the people commenting here could get Nixon out by pitching lefty. And I'm talking about the natural righties trying to throw opposite-handed. So who's left from '04, anyways?

Seriously, though....they had a Players' League back in 1914-15 that folded. How would something like that come off in this day and age? It's real easy to milk $15 million out of a billionaire, but what if it's the players' own operating capital?

I mean both. No one can stop a natural disaster, I'm not suggesting that. There's a reason I won't live in the Gulf area or LA. I know they need aid, and they should get it. Even if they had planned ahead, many people would still need aid.

If a fire happened at your house, I would be sympathetic, that can happen to pretty much anyone. If your children died because you ignored the fire alarm and had bars on the windows, that would be different. I'm sympathetic to New Orleanians, people too poor or too old to help themselves, people who thought they'd always be ok because they always had been. Residents who were abandoned by their nurses and policemen.

Having said that, you're assigning all the blame to the "powers that be" and none of it to the residents in a democracy?

National Geographic had an article about what was going to happen to New Orleans, MONTHS ahead of time (and scientists saw this years before the NG article). New Orleans still didn't evacuate the retirement homes, the poor residents didn't get bused and there were no plans in place for either improving the levees or improving the wetlands (they didn't have enough time for the latter, I know). But an organized evacuation would have been enough to save lives. And that would have cost, what? $10k maybe? Pay for some extra signs and explaining to bus drivers and hospitals what was going to happen? Pay for some extra shifts of drivers and armed guards?

But in America, it's always someone else's fault.

To review: Arizona doesn't have enough water, neither does LA. San Fransisco might have a huge earthquake and people in New Orleans can have another hurricane that floods everything (this hurricane wasn't strong enough to flood NO on its own, it needed the levees to breach). This wasn't a worse case scenario by a long shot.

It's as simple as this: the levees are at inadequate pre-Katrina levels for this Hurricane season, but the football stadium is in fine shape. Why? Because that's what the people want.

"But an organized evacuation would have been enough to save lives. And that would have cost, what? $10k maybe? Pay for some extra signs and explaining to bus drivers and hospitals what was going to happen? Pay for some extra shifts of drivers and armed guards?"

10K? Try millions of dollars. And where are you going to evacuate these people to? Drop 'em off at the state line? Many of them either have no place to go OR everyone they know is ALSO being evacuated.

It was a terrible situation, but i think its difficult to place much of the blame on the people living there.

I'm assuming, by your indication that the people wanted the stadium rebuilt, that there was some sort of vote?

Dan,As a Chicagoan and Bears fan, you have to understand that we don't HATE Grossman at all. In fact, many of us think he might be a good QB in the future, and love what we saw from him early in the season.

What has Bears fans in conniptions is that Sexy Rexy may not be right for THIS year. Look, with the Bears defense and special teams, all the offense needs to do is pretty much not turn the ball over and maybe put up 10+ points a game. We should be able to do that with TJ and Benson running, and quick checkdown passes to whoever is open. No need to go deep all the time a la Rex.

So Bears fans, hungry for their first Super Bowl taste in 21 years (and only 2nd ever, I might add, in the Super Bowl era), are thinking that Rex, as much as we like the swagger and moxie, is not right for THIS year. Hand it over to Griese, perhaps, and let the dominant defense and special teams carry you to the Super Bowl....let Rex develop a little more after we got our ring.

Evacuation PLANS don't cost very much money. New Orleans was pretty much a sinking ship and they stuck to the Titanic plan: those in steerage had to save themselves. This is what happens when your leaders are partying on the promenade.

How many times will you say it's someone else's fault? There were elections this summer in New Orleans. But the bread and circuses routine still goes on.

"Hand it over to Griese, perhaps, and let the dominant defense and special teams carry you to the Super Bowl"

I cannot believe that someone is openly pining for Brian Griese to be the Quarterback who will "not turn the ball over and maybe put up 10+ points a game"

Wow. Grossman must really be getting some bad press. I mean, Brian Griese is great to hold a clipboard and save a floundering team for a game or two every year. But I don't think he's the guy you want leading the NFC's #1 seed into the postseason.

Looks like the Yankees are planning to sign Lilly and Pettitte with Pavano to be traded during spring training.....if he doesn't hurt his ass again. Pettitte, Wang, Mussina, Johnson, Lilly vs. Schilling, Beckett, Papelbon, Penny, Matsuzaka. Good times in the AL East.

I don't know if expecting Griese to be conservative with the TO's and get 10 points a game is expecting too much.

Griese's career stats show he throws Under 1 IT per game and throws Over 1 TD per game. Dilfer had the same efficiency in 2000.

He's no superstar but neither was Dilfer in '01. I also think we'd agree to this point the '06 bears defense and special teams can put more points on the board than that '01 Raven Defense and special teams.

This will probably piss people off but I really dont have much sympathy for the people of new orleans. Sure it sucks that they got hit by a hurricane but hell I live in florida and when I lived on the water I knew the inherent risk of living there. PEople who live near the water int he gulf and on the southern east coast know that they are at risk to be hit by a hurricane. Similarly people in CA know they are at risk of having a huge earthquake and people in the midwest might be caught by a tornado. Wherever you live you probably have some sort of risk from mother nature. I think that the citizens need to quit placing blame on the government and realize that it was their choice to live in a city that is below sea level. If you can't handle the consequences then dont live there. Regardless, with all the media hype you have to give the saints some props as being one of the biggest sports stories of the year. They have helped bring pride to a city that was pretty down on its luck.

I think that maybe lavar arrington is right in saying the union is like organized crime. There has to be something fishy if a guy can be suspended for having a documented need for this asthma. My mom has been taking medication to help her lungs recover from having cancer surgery. If she didn't take this medication she might die. I wonder how great the backlash will be against the nfl if a player dies from not being able to take necessarry meds.

Jerry greene in todays sentinel wrote how selig should force bonds to have to play for the d-rays. That would be so amazing as he would easily hit some moonshots that would hit the outer rings on the dome and be homers as well as smacking the crap out of the batters eye restaurant window in center field. There might be no better spot to see a homerun hit than to be in that restaurant on a sunday eating prime rib when a line drive scares the crap out of the other patrons. I wish there was a way we could make this happen. Hell it is a win win situation. Bonds goes to the equivalent of baseball purgatory and the d-rays have a guaranteed 12-15k fans a night which is a hell of a lot better than their average of 8k.

Corticosteroids AREN'T PERFORMANCE ENHANCING! Only anabolic steroids increase bone and muscle mass. How can the NFL make them illegal if they only serve a medical benefit? They put the "ass" in asinine.

O'Brien is an excellent coach that doesn't get alot of credit for overcoming many significant obstacles. BC is a small school, with a consequent tiny alumni base. To further compound the problem, Boston is a pro town with many other colleges. Even the Harvard v Yale game garnered more interest this year than several of our home games. The Northeast is not a hotbed for HS recruits.We play in a small stadium (only 44,000), and yet seats are often empty sometimes. Yet, DESPITE ALL THIS, O'Brien and his coaches recruit well. With alot less talent under bc O'Brien has just missed a BCS slot by the slimmest of margins in 2 of the last 3 years.

I think this move is in the best interest of all involved. TOB will get NC State back on its feet and to a consistent level of respectability. With the less stringent academic standards, he might be able to recruit the players that can finally get him over the hump. NC State will give him a significant raise, too.

It's obvious that he has plateued at BC. With Wake winning the ACC, he is out of excuses for why he has been unable to bring home one conference championship in 10 years at The Heights. Forget a conference championship, he hasn't even given BC a decent bowl game. He likes to blame the fans for that (as he did on his radio show last week), but the truth is that the Peach and Gator bowls aren't in the habit of inviting teams with 3 conference losses unless they have to. TOB has had 3 conference losses in all but one of his 10 years at BC. In 2004, he had 2 but choked at home against a 4-7 Syracuse team with a BCS berth on the line in the last game of the season. If he expected to get a Gator Bowl invite after that embarassment. He blames the fans for getting slighted, and we blame him.

So I think it's best that we all move on. I thank TOB for what he did for BC and wish him well at NC State. I also look forward to the future of BC football.

There are plenty of good coaches who can and will come to BC. Now it is on Gene and Father Leahy to do this right. I just rattled off 18 guys. There are many more out there who could win at the Heights. For those looking for my summaries they are linked below. All that said, these are the five guys I would talk to first:

There are plenty of good coaches who can and will come to BC. All that said, these are the five guys I would talk for bc to first:

Chicagoans don't hate Grossman as much as you think. It's pretty even out here. The Sun-Times has a big poll among readers about who should start, and the results were surprisingly in Grossman's favor: 51% to Griese's 49%. Damn near evenly split, with half agreeing with Lovie Smith and arguing that Grossman's the future and you gotta give the kid time to grow (like most young QBs who suck it up then learn to play consistently... even Favre, who sucked it up in Green Bay early on before ascending to greatness). The other side's saying you've got to give Griese a chance cuz he might actually be the solution for right now.

Grossman Problem: He's has NO mobility... he NEVER runs out the pocket... WTF...leads to all those stupid throws.

And some people here are saying that they should bench Grossman for one game only, then put him back as starter. How does that make sense?? You don't get better by sitting on the sideline for one game. Either bench him or start him.

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DanShanoff.com is a sports-blog spin-off of my long-time ESPN.com column, "The Daily Quickie." Anchored by an early-morning post of must-know topics, the blog is updated frequently throughout the day with new posts and user comments.